Google and Acer roll out $199 Chromebook

Google’s Chrome OS never became a runaway hit, but it still has a niche to fill and Google believes it is here to stay.

A few weeks ago Google and Samsung launched a $249 Chromebook, powered by an Exynos 5250 processor. This week it’s Acer’s turn, and its effort, the Acer C7, is a bit more conventional.

Rather than an ARM-based SoC, Acer went for Intel’s Celeron 847, clocked at 1.1GHz. It also features a traditional 320GB hard drive rather than solid state storage. The C7 features an 11.6-inch 1366x768 screen, 1.3-megapixel camera and HDMI, all packed in a one-inch thick package, weighing in at just over 3lbs.

Priced at just $199, it’s a bit cheaper than Samsung’s effort, but the downside of using an x86 chip is limited battery life. Rated at 3.5 hours of endurance, it falls short of Samsung’s Chromebook with 6.5 hours.

In any case $199 for such a device sounds like a good deal, provided you don’t find Chrome OS too limited. Like we said, it’s a niche market, but the x86 chip should have no trouble running Windows or Linux just in case.